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I met Jess at Shepperton Studios wedding fair, and knew from then that her Christmas wedding would be so fun! Getting ready in the hotel by the church she only had a short walk to marry her fiancée Joe, the old Shepperton square is so cute, with the hotel backing into the river and Christmas trees decorating the buildings and church, it was beautiful.

The weather was absolutely perfect, beautiful sun, crisp air and clear skies, after the “I dos” the guests threw the confetti and then grabbed themselves some hot chips and mulled wine! Jess and Joe has always said that they weren’t overly fussed about getting the static formal family shots and wanted the focus to be on candids, which is always music to my ears. They only wanted a few couple shots by the river, so whilst their guests were sipping on mulled wine we walked 1 minute down the road to grab a little quiet moment together before heading back, at which time the bus taking the guests to the reception venue had turned up!

Their children issued wedding bus tickets to the guests as they stepped on board, Christmas songs were blasted throughout the trip and beer glasses chinked together - I absolutely love getting guests to travel together, it keeps the energy and celebrations going and everyone always loves it!

Shepperton studios had their Christmas party the same week as Jess and Joes big day, the theme for the party was Alice in Wonderland, and they fully embraced it for their wedding! Why not!?! You get your whole wedding styled for free! It was amazing to rock up to the venue from the bus to be greeted by statues of cards, mood lighting, wonderland quotes on the walls, moss and greenery styled tea sets amongst everything else! It really did feel as if you were going down the rabbit hole!

The speeches brought tears to the guests eyes and the magic of the day was topped off by an awesome chair trick, that I’ve stolen for myself to use(!) and the first dance and father/daughter dance were truly magical with 5 confetti canons being popped throughout - if you’re humming and har-ing about confetti canons during your first dance - DO IT!

“Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so. You're entirely Bonkers. But I will tell you a secret, All the best people are.”

It was such an honour to be asked to shoot the civil ceremony part of Sapna and Kunal’s wedding celebrations. Having gone to school with Sapna, it made it even more special to be a part of her day, she mentioned before that she wanted each part of the day to be as personal as possible, with their videographer being a friend from University, me, their photographer, being in School with Sapna, and the celebrations afterwards being at their brand new home together - the personal touch was definitely achieved.

Having already had a few days of celebrations and religious marriage ceremonies, I was only needed for a few hours on their civil ceremony day. I met them up town at The Old Marylebone Town Hall, where I’ve shot a few times. The venue on a Sunday is really lovely and chilled out compared to Saturday’s there. This gave us much more space to capture photos and allowed for clean backgrounds, especially during the couple shots, it also allowed us to use the internal staircase for a few shots too before the next wedding came along. On a Saturday, it’s not possible to use the internal staircase as their are multiple weddings going on at the same time and the stairs are the main entry and exit so have to be kept clear.

Even though they had already been religiously married, the nerves were still clear to see as they both said their civil vows. We moved quickly after the ceremony to get all the group shots and couple shots, we then headed back to their new home. The evening drew in and it was perfect for their sparkler entrance! I loved capturing these photos, they really do have a magical feel! I left them celebrating with their family and friends, it was a truly heart warming day, and a complete honour to be a part of.